Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge while speaking in Rajya Sabha during the debate on Motion of Thanks on President's address on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of favouring his close friends. Without naming anybody, Kharge said that the wealth of a "close friend" of the Prime Minister "increased by 13 times in 2.5 years."
"Wealth of one of the closest friends of PM Modi increased by 13 times in 2.5 years. In 2014 it was Rs 50,000 cr while in 2019 it became Rs 1 lakh crore. What magic happened that suddenly in two years assets worth Rs 12 lakh crores came, is it due to favour of friendship?", said Kharge in the Parliament.
The Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar objected to Kharge's statement and said that the house does not allow members to level allegations against anybody.
However, Kharge continued speaking on the issue and said that the ruling party is "looting" the country and he has the full "right to speak the truth".
"If I speak the truth, is it anti-national? I'm not anti-national. I'm more patriotic than anyone here. I'm a 'bhoomi-putra'...You're looting the country& telling me that I'm anti-national, said Mallikarjun Kharge during the debate in the Rajya Sabha.
Union Minister of commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal said that the allegations made by the Leader of the Opposition are baseless and cannot be proved.
The opposition parties have been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the allegations leveled by Hindenburg research against the Adani Group.
Since the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1, the minimal legislative business has been conducted in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha due to the opposition's protests.